The present invention relates to a door lock assembly for automotive vehicles comprising a locking/unlocking mechanism, and a closer mechanism having a single motor for an actuation thereof.
A known door lock assembly for automotive vehicles is disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-288131 (1994), which includes a locking/unlocking mechanism for bringing a vehicle door in a completely closed state into a locked state and an unlocked state, and a closer mechanism for bringing the vehicle door from a partially closed state to the completely closed state.
This prior-art door lock assembly has a first drive mechanism associated with the closer mechanism and including a motor as a drive source for actuating the closer mechanism; and a second drive mechanism associated with the locking/unlocking mechanism and including another motor as a drive source for actuating the locking/unlocking mechanism.
In this conventional assembly, the first drive mechanism is operated to actuate the closer mechanism to bring the vehicle door automatically from the partially closed state to the completely closed state, and the second drive mechanism is operated to actuate the locking/unlocking mechanism to bring the vehicle door automatically into the locked state and the unlocked state.
In the conventional assembly described above, however, the closer mechanism and the locking/unlocking mechanism are individually provided with the first and second drive mechanisms essential to require the two motors, respectively. This construction enlarges the full size of the assembly and requires a large housing space in the vehicle door to set it so that the weight and the cost of the door lock assembly are increased.